Wizards And Worriers: Return of the Fly (1959)

Return of the Fly (1959)

Starring: Vincent Price, Brett Halsey, David Frankham

Writer & Director: Edward Bernds

Synopsis:

It's been fifteen years since Andre Delambre accidentally turned himself into AndreFly and had his wife Helen crush his fly-head and fly-hand in a hydraulic press. Helen has died from the never ending grief and terror of her husband's fate. Their son, Philippe, is now an adult and wants to continue the experiments, as he understands what his dad was trying to accomplish. With the aid of his assistant Ronald and the reluctant Uncle Francois, Philippe picks up where his father left off, purchasing a new machine to conduct reintegration and setting up shop in his inherited mansion. However, his “faithful” assistant has other plans.

Rant:

I was unable to find a straight explanation as to why this beast wasn't filmed in color like its predecessor, but apparently it was for budgetary reasons. It's not a hindrance; I love the atmosphere black and white gives off, ****spoilers→and there are some damn effective nighttime scenes here of PhilippeFly creepin' through the woods.←spoilers**** I'd also say it helps the story, which is set fifteen years after the original. Probably much easier to hide the fact that Vincent Price's hair appears powdered to give off a graying effect. It's still noticeable, but in color this would have looked laughable. Speaking of budget, Return of the Fly was made with half the cost of the original film. One reason Price signed on to the sequel was because he was impressed with the script. Well, most the stuff he liked was removed in order to cut the cost down dramatically. The script was also said to be written to where the lab set from the first film could be used again. Perhaps that's a little cheap, but nevertheless, we have a pretty damn enjoyable sequel here. Moreover, if you were disappointed in the lack of Vincent Price in The Fly (I wasn't, and I actually get a little pissy when most people call it a Price film without giving props to David Hedison and Patricia Owens), then you may be elated to find he has a lot more to do in this film.

What I enjoy most about Return of the Fly is how it's not just more of the same that we've already seen. There is a sinister tone involved, and one hell of a bastard antagonist. While I dug Andre in the first film and even felt bad for the dude, his afflictions and ultimate demise all stemmed from his own stupidity. I mean, it was he himself that stuck his own foolish ass into the disintegrator-integrator. Sure, he was unbeknownst to the fly that was chilling in the chamber... but damn man, check your shit first. ****spoilers→In this film, his son Philippe gets knocked out during a scuffle with his treacherous assistant, Alan/Ronnie. Thereafter, Ronnie tosses Philippe into the machine and sets it to delayed reintegration --which means his atoms are somewhere in space and time just chillin', until someone comes along and reintegrates him. Backing up, this mother fucker doesn't just throw Philippe into the machine; he purposely sticks a fly in the chamber, too. So right away, you want Philippe to return with a fucking vengeance, ripping this dickhead in half.←spoilers**** Anyway, while the story was reportedly trimmed and could have possibly been a big bowl of awesome if left intact, I still dig writer/director Edward Bernds' change of pace and ability to give something new.

****spoilers→Also gotta give some love to the addition of the disintegrator-integrator having problematic issues of reintegrating living specimens gigantically. Guinea pigs come out on the other side big enough to eat a fucking cat. PhilippeFly comes out with a fly head the size of King Kong's ball sack. It's awesome.←spoilers****

Characters/Acting:

Francois Delambre- this dude's life blows. Fifteen years ago, he loses his fly hybrid brother as a result of mad science. Fast forward, here he is at the funeral of his brother's wife, whom Francois was in love with. To make shit worse, he fails at talking his nephew Philippe out of taking the same road his brother took. Adding fuel to the fire, Francois reluctantly agrees to assist Philippe in picking up where his father left off. As previously mentioned, Vincent Price is given more to do with the character this time around, and he's delightful, as usual.

Philippe Delambre- all grown up now. A scientist like his father and wants to pursue the same experiments in a more non foolish manner. Dude is quite the hunk and definitely seems to have the wits about him that his Dad failed at possessing. Brett Halsey is fine, if a bit hammy when trying to convey grief or terror at the sight of a fly. Guess what? The movie is a little hammy itself, so fuck it. Oscar worthy!

Ronald Holmes/Alan Hinds- leaves employment under Francois to assist Philippe on his endeavors of continuing his father's experiments. Dude seems awesome at first, but that shit quickly changes once his true intentions unravel. David Frankham rules in the role, jumping back and forth from caring to an asshole with ease.

Max Barthold- mortician/stolen property dealer. Dan Seymour sounds exactly like Cheshire Cat, so that's who I saw every time Max is on screen. ****spoilers→He's in cahoots with Alan, setting up a deal for the disintegrator-integrator.←spoilers****

Cecile Bonnard- daughter of Philippe's housekeeper. She basically serves as a love interest for Philippe, but it's poorly established. Most of the film, actress Danielle De Metz just walks around the mansion lookin' crazy hot, brings tea to Philippe and reminisces about childhood with him. If lookin' crazy hot is what the script called for, then De Metz kills it!

FX:

****spoilers****

PhilippeFly with overgrown head, foot and arm looks awesome. As I mentioned earlier, the fly head is as big as Kong's balls, and that's actually what it looks like (at least, that's what I would envision Kong's balls looking like), with really big fly eyes glued on. I'll also say the fly body with Philippe's head looks a bit better than fly body with Andre's head in the original. However, why does it not have Philippe's left arm and right foot? Whatevs. We also get a detective with the feet and hands of a rat, and a rat (it's called a guinea pig in the film, but it's a rat. I know I know, same family, but still) with the feet and hands of a detective. Said rat gets squashed in a fairly intense scene, and I wonder if there were any real abuse going on. I fucking hope not. Either way, it's severely hilarious to see human hands grasping for life under the shoe of the killer.

Off topic of FX, there is an awesome fight scene with a shitload of choking, chair rolling and double pistol-whipping. Not to be missed!

Random Awesomeness:

****spoilers in some of the pics****